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Squeaks, do you know a word for a really smart bird?
吱吱，你知道有什么词可以形容一只非常聪明的鸟吗？
A parrot! You're right! I just love words. And some birds do too!
鹦鹉！你说得对！我只是喜欢说话。有些鸟也是！
Just like us, birds can use sounds and body language to communicate with each other.
与我们一样，鸟类也可以用声音和肢体语言相互交流。
When we make sounds to communicate, we usually use language.
当我们用声音进行交流时，通常使用语言。
Language is made of words, like "I" and "store" and "bananas",
语言由单词构成，比如“I”，“store”和“banana”，
put together into sentences, like "I'm going to the store to buy some bananas."
这些单词合成句子，比如“我要去商店买些香蕉。”
But almost all other animals don't use language to put words into sentences like we do.
但是几乎所有其他动物都不会像我们一样用语言把单词变成句子。
Except for some birds!
一些鸟类除外！
When birds like parakeets, or hill mynas, or African grey parrots, spend time with humans,
当长尾小鹦鹉、山雀、非洲灰鹦鹉等鸟类与人类相处时，
they start to repeat our human sounds back to us!
它们开始向我们重复人类的声音！
You can even train them to say things you want them to repeat.
你甚至可以训练他们说你想让他们重复的话。
Great question, Squeaks: do they really understand what they're saying,
吱吱，问得好：它们真得明白自己在说什么吗，
or are they just copying the sounds they hear?
或者它们只是模仿自己听到的声音？
Well, it might be a little of both.
嗯，可能两者兼而有之。
Birds can be very impressive at imitation, which is another word for copying.
鸟类的模仿能力令人印象深刻，模仿是复制的另一种说法。
When chicks are born, they hear sounds made by the other birds in their flock or their family.
当小鸡出生时，它们会听到群落中其他鸟类或它们家人发出的声音。
And they practice imitating those sounds, until they sound just like the rest of their flock!
然后它们练习模仿这些声音，直到它们的声音听起来与鸡群其他成员的一样！
There are lots of reasons that birds might need to know the sounds that other animals make.
鸟类需要知道其他动物发出的声音有很多原因。
For one thing, birds in the wild are very social.
首先，野生鸟类是群居的。
They help out other members of their flock.
它们帮助鸟群中的其他成员。
The calls of different flocks of birds, even two different flocks of the same kind of bird, are all different from each other!
不同鸟群的叫声，甚至是同一种鸟的不同鸟群的叫声，都是不同的！
It helps to know who your family is by the familiar sounds they make!
熟悉的叫声能帮助你知道谁是你的家人！
Some birds can even learn other animal calls that might scare away predators, so the birds don't get eaten!
有些鸟类甚至可以学习其他动物的叫声，这叫声可能会吓走捕食者，这样它们就不会被吃掉了！
And being good at imitating shows that a bird is smart, and has a good memory and strong muscles,
善于模仿表明鸟类很聪明，它们有很好的记忆力和强健的肌肉，
which makes it more appealing to other birds in its flock.
这使得它对鸟群中的其他鸟类更有吸引力。
The birds that can copy human speech are especially talented imitators.
能够模仿人类语言的鸟类尤其善于模仿。
Birds that learn to imitate humans come from two groups:
学习模仿人类的鸟类有两种：
parrots, like African greys, cockatoos, and parakeets … and songbirds, like mynahs, starlings, and even crows!
非洲灰鹦鹉、凤头鹦鹉和长尾小鹦鹉等鹦鹉，以及八哥、椋鸟、乌鸦等鸣禽！
They're such good imitators that sometimes they can even fool people!
它们是优秀的模仿者，有时甚至可以愚弄人类！
Some pet birds have escaped into the wild,
一些宠物鸟逃到了野外，
and taught the calls they learned from humans, to the other birds in their new flock.
并教给新鸟群的其他鸟类从人类那里学到的叫声。
So sometimes people have gone for a nature walk, and heard someone calling out.
所以有时人们在自然中漫步时，会听到有人喊他。
They looked around for a person…only to realize that the birds were the ones talking.
他们四处张望寻找说话人时却发现是鸟儿在说话。
When pet birds copy the way we talk, that might be because they think of the humans they live with as their flock.
宠物鸟模仿我们的说话方式，这可能是因为它们把和自己生活在一起的人类当作了自己的鸟群。
And a bird wants to sound as much like its own flock as it can.
鸟儿想要尽可能地像它自己的鸟群一样叫喊。
Plus, if a parrot gets a treat every time she says something that sounds like the human members of her flock …
另外，如果一只鹦鹉每次说一些类似其所属群体的人类成员的声音就能得到一份奖励的话，
she'll want to keep practicing her human sounds!
她会想继续练习人类的声音！
These birds can learn hundreds of words, especially if they're trained from an early age by a human.
这些鸟类可以学会几百个单词，特别是它们如果从小被人类训练的话。
Alex, a very famous grey parrot, learned the words for over 100 different things.
亚历克斯是一只非常有名的灰鹦鹉，它学会了100多个不同事物的单词。
His trainer even taught him to ask for these objects when he wanted them!
他的教练甚至教它在它需要这些东西的时候作出请求！
And learning to say "I want a banana" when you want a banana … sure sounds like language, doesn't it?
它在想要一根香蕉时，学会说“I want a banana”，这听起来像是语言，不是吗？
Well, it is a form of communicating.
嗯，这是一种交流方式。
Alex knew that making certain noises would make something happen.
亚历克斯知道制造某些声音会让事情发生。
Like, if he made the sounds for "I want a banana," he would get one.
比如，它发出“I want a banana”的声音时，就会得到一根香蕉。
But it's not exactly the same as language.
但它与语言并不完全相同。
What's special about human language is not just that we use words to communicate.
人类语言的特别之处不只是我们用语言来交流。
We can say "I want a banana," and so can some birds, if they've been trained by humans!
我们可以说“I want a banana”（我想要一根香蕉），一些鸟类也可以，如果它们受到人类训练的话！
But human language can take a bunch of ideas and use them together in one thought.
但是人类的语言可以把很多想法结合在一个想法中。
So not just saying "I want a banana,"
他们不仅仅说“我想要一根香蕉”，
but "Before you can have a banana, first you need to wash your hands and set the table."
而是“在你吃香蕉之前，首先要洗手，摆好桌子。”
Animals can have complicated ways of communicating,
动物可以有复杂的交流方式，
but they don't use what we think of as language to do it.
但是它们不会用我们所认为的语言来说它。
Even if they're repeating human words.
即使它们在重复人类的话。
Thanks for joining us!
感谢您的收看！
If you want to keep learning and having fun with Squeaks and me, hit the subscribe button,
如果你想继续学习，并与我和吱吱共度美好时光，就点击订阅吧，
and don't forget to check us out on the YouTube Kids app.
不要忘了在YouTube Kids应用上查看我们。
Thanks! We'll see you next time, here at the Fort!
感谢您的收看，我们下期见，沃斯堡等你哦！
